Name SS Meriwether Lewis Laid down 19 May 1941 Displacement 14,245 tons Launched 19 October 1941 | Namesake Meriwether Lewis Class and type Cargo ship Construction started 19 May 1941 Weight 14,470 tons | |
Fate torpedoed by U-634 3 March 1943 | ||
The SS Meriwether Lewis (Hull Number 170) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer who, along with William Clark, led the Corps of Discovery which explored the American West.
The ship was laid down on 19 May 1941, then launched on 19 October 1941. On February 7, 1943, the ship left New York as part of convoy HX-227, "bound for the United Kingdom and then to Murmansk, Russia." According to the German Navy, in the early morning of March 2, she was identified as a straggler separated from her convoy; an initial attack by U-759 failed due to engine problems. U-759 then contacted U-634, leading it to SS Meriwether Lewis. One of four initial torpedoes stopped her; the second of two more torpedoes detonated the ship's ammunition cargo. She was torpedoed by in the North Atlantic Ocean on 3 March 1943, southwest of Iceland at position 62°10′N 28°25′W.
By the time USCGC Ingham arrived at the site of the attack, all that was found was a 30-mile line of floating tires. There were no survivors from her crew.